Fifth-Ranked Waves Head to Oklahoma for ITA Indoors

MALIBU, Calif. – The fifth-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis team makes the trek to Stillwater, Oklahoma this weekend for the 2021 ITA Indoor National Championships hosted by Oklahoma State.

MATCH #3 (QUARTERFINALS): #5 Pepperdine vs #6 Georgia Tech | Friday, February 5 | 10 a.m. PT | Stillwater, Okla. | Watch | Live Scoring

MATCH #4 (SEMIFINALS): #5 Pepperdine vs [Winner of #1 North Carolina/#9 Ohio State | Saturday, February 6 | 10 a.m. PT | Stillwater, Okla. | Watch | Live Scoring

COVERAGE: All matches will be streamed on PlaySight via Cracked Racquets, and you can follow along on Twitter via @WavesTennis.

SCOUTING THE JACKETS
Sixth-ranked Georgia Tech currently sits at 6-0 after taking no names in the ITA Kickoff Weekend where they defeated both #14 South Carolina and then-#6 Duke in dramatic fashion. Since then, the Jackets have defeated the likes of Alabama-Birmingham, Kennesaw State and Auburn.

Georgia Tech's ranked players include #13 Kenya Jones, #56 Victoria Flores and #123 Gia Cohen as Flores and Jones make up the lone ranked doubles tandem at #5.

KEEPING UP WITH THE WAVES:
#1 – Ashley Lahey
#12 – Shiori Fukuda
#33 – Jessica Failla
#45 – Lexi Ryngler
#88 – Taisiya Pachkaleva

LAST TIME OUT: The Waves defeated Wisconsin, #17 USC and the rain/hail storms during the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Against the Badgers, Pepperdine took little time in earning their first win of the season, seeing doubles wins from tandems Astrid Olsen/Shiori Fukuda and Ashley Lahey/Nikki Redelijk 6-0, 6-2, respectively for the doubles point. In singles, it was veteran #33 Jessica Failla who completed her match first on court two, going 6-3, 6-0 over her Badger opponent.

The two true freshmen finished soon after, as Redelijk won 6-1, 6-1 on court six and #88 Taisiya Pachkaleva stole her first match point and first of the season for the Waves on court five, going 6-2, 6-1.

Pepperdine saw a little more bark in the second match, however, as they took on the likes of L.A. County foe #17 USC. Shortly after the start of doubles play, the sky opened over Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center and forced play to resume at the Pepperdine Crest Courts once the radar had cleared.

The Waves dropped the doubles point, but weren't phased through singles play. Pachkaleva delivered the first dub, going 7-5, 6-1 on court five, followed by #12 Fukuda who earned a 6-4, 6-1 win over her Trojan opposition on court three.

With the score at an even 2-2, #33 Failla gave the Waves a leg up on court one, winning 6-2 in the first set and then battling through a 3-6 second-set loss to take her match 7-5 and put Pepperdine up 3-2.

Who else would deliver the final blow than top-ranked Lahey, who dropped her first set 4-6 before rearing back and smothering her court two foe 7-6 (5) and 6-4 to take the match point for the Waves at 4-2.

UP NEXT
Upon returning home from Stillwater, the Waves invite USC back to Malibu for a Saturday afternoon match, set to begin at 1 p.m. on February 13.

Fifth-Ranked Waves Head to Oklahoma for ITA Indoors

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Players Mentioned

Jessica Failla

Shiori Fukuda

Ashley Lahey

Astrid Olsen

Taisiya Pachkaleva

Nikki Redelijk

Lexi Ryngler

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